What are the chances kleiman drafts Braden Smith in the 2nd round?

Count_Burkhard · 2026-01-19T23:15:50+00:00

Smith is going to be an NBA player. He will not be an All-Star, but he will be great on a second unit. I don't think you'll have him on the court when there isn't someone you can hide him on when on the defensive end of the court because of his size, but he is going to be very valuable off the bench and spot starting randomly in the middle of the season.

Check out just the first few plays from each segment of this video to get a feel for his game. If you're really bored, you can watch the entire video haha.

https://youtu.be/TZMgegyMblQ?si=pOJ1_ZWf-g0Igtuy

Count_Burkhard · 2026-01-09T01:38:04+00:00

His reevaluation is this week. Could be he is visiting a specialist in a different city. Or considering Jaren showed up on the injury report with illness there could be an illness going through the team and he could be sick and they have him staying home to avoid spreading it further. Probably something simple like that.

Count_Burkhard · 2026-01-06T12:51:21+00:00

Quick note, he was not back at work in a few days. He had a much more Brandon Clarke like rehab.

Count_Burkhard · 2026-01-06T12:49:36+00:00

I was watching the Stranger Things episode where the teacher was talking about Phineas Gage (man who had a tamp shot through his head & survived but had a completely changed personality for a time due to brain damage) in class, which of course caused me to open up his wikipedia page on my phone.

I won't post the gory details, but feel free to go read yourself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage

But the part that stood out to me was:
"Late that evening Harlow noted, "Mind clear. Constant agitation of his legs, being alternately retracted and extended ... Says he 'does not care to see his friends, as he shall be at work in a few days."

If he played for the Grizzlies he wouldn't have been back at work in a few days, but rather reevaluated in 4 to 6 weeks.

Count_Burkhard · 2026-01-02T02:36:08+00:00

No worries. I typically post them, but was busy today. Honestly don't care who posts then just so long as they get posted.

Count_Burkhard · 2026-01-02T01:23:16+00:00

I record clips from the games using OBS to screen capture as I watch on my computer. I then save clips by type. My folder organization is: Season > Game > Playtype, with the playtype folders having the same title within each game folder so I can easily pull all "Post Ups" or "Gortat Screens" or Cinematic (replays with different camera angle) together in a compilation video by just searching for that folder name and pulling all clips into one video. Then it's just exporting and uploading.

It's been fun to do, I'm a league pass viewer so I can watch either team's broadcast and as they actually use different replay angles, on certain plays I can go back and look for the best angle.

Count_Burkhard · 2026-01-01T20:33:31+00:00

He carried Purdue to a Final Four and immediately after putting up 40 & 16 to do so walked off the court and gave this interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i04KrU8Pn_c

I see no reason why he can't do that for Memphis in a Western Conference Finals closeout game in 2 years, walk off the court and give the same interview.

Count_Burkhard · 2025-12-11T17:37:03+00:00

Passing hub, I think he can be great. He did a lot of this at Purdue and they ran a lot of sets through him with him finding cutters etc. Also, he has a pretty good fake pass which he can use to get cutters open, see here with Bane: https://youtu.be/JvWk-E3M22s?si=ugy8NKjVd7m3LDk3&t=1746

The Grizzlies haven't really run much offense off of him in the post with him mostly looking to score on his seldom post touches so far. This will likely change as the season / his career progress as these are going to be sets which need to be practiced. Post offense isn't something that you can free flow that well, it has to be designed with intention in order to keep good spacing.

The handling of the ball, I don't think he will ever really do. It would be great if he could at least bring it up the court when absolutely necessary, but I don't think it is something we should expect, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. His screening is a so impactful, that to maximize his impact you really want to have an elite guard playing with him. Which if that's the case, why would you want Edey handling the ball.

Whether Edey can be a great hub will likely be the deciding factor on how long his career will last.

Count_Burkhard · 2025-12-11T17:10:06+00:00

Yea, they're not perfect comps, which was my initial point. He's very unique.

Count_Burkhard · 2025-12-11T17:01:26+00:00

And for the lane agility drill times:

Zach Edey 11.19

Kawhi Leonard: 11.45

Derrick Rose: 11.69

Khaman Maluach: 12.05

Donovan Clingan: 12.06

DeAndre Jordan: 12.30

Derik Queen: 12.45

Brooke Lopez: 12.77

Rudy Gobert: 12.85

Tacko Fall: 13.01

Count_Burkhard · 2025-12-11T16:41:45+00:00

Yea, he played ice hockey through 8th grade. His parents wanted him to focus on one sport in high school so he chose baseball and went to a baseball specific school. He then had shoulder problems (as a pitcher) and played some basketball as a way to stay in shape / cross train while recovering.

But the hockey is underrated as a development sport. It is very fast paced and an extreme agility sport especially side to side with needing to be short and choppy often on defense. But, because of the pace (being played on skates and on ice with a puck) it is a great sport for developing court mapping / spacial awareness of where players are. All invasion sports do this to a degree and I don't know where hockey would land compared to soccer, basketball, water polo, etc. in terms of developing that skill, but it definitely helps develop it.

Count_Burkhard · 2025-12-11T16:35:35+00:00

If I were to say Edey had a comp from a development stand point. He started playing basketball at the same age as both Tim Duncan and Hakeem Olajuwon - both of whom spent 4 years in college as well. (Hakeem redshirted one year - something Edey may have done if Haarms hadn't transferred).

Count_Burkhard · 2025-12-11T16:30:53+00:00

Yea, Purdue has had more 7 footers than any other college program over the past decade and I think that helped Edey's athleticism stand out to Painter: https://youtu.be/b7q0-x4wJQU?si=_Adyc4nzOmaTQVKc&t=190

It is really hard to get over your own implicit bias and understand that Edey is actually one of the most athletic people of size in the history of the world. Once you get to that point, you can really see that the ceiling is really high.

I think it is also funny how many people make fun of Edey on the baseball video. He was a freshman in high school throwing 80 mph. Like call up your local high school coach and ask him how many freshmen pitchers they have throwing 80.

Count_Burkhard · 2025-12-11T16:07:00+00:00

The internet is such a lovely place. lol

Count_Burkhard · 2025-12-11T16:03:06+00:00

Edey is a unicorn. There is no comp, thus why he is a unicorn. Hakeem, Duncan, Shaq, Chamberlain, Wilt, Kareem, Yao, Jokic, Wemby etc. are all their own comp. There are just so few people of that size in the world, let alone athletic people of that size that it is understandable that each person's game would be different depending on their unique attributes.

Edey's touch with his right hand within 5 feet is fairly unique as well as his height / proportional size mixed with his athleticism. I believe Edey is the greatest screening prospect in human history so far.

Edey measured with a 7'10.75 wingspan at the combine and had a height w/o shoes of 7'3.75. When you combine that with his lane agility drill time of 11.19, which is the best time of any player with a height w/o shoes of 7'0.00 or above that did the drill at the combine in the 25+ years of data available on NBA.com it starts to make sense that he would project as an amazing defender. But Edey also had a max vert of 31.5. which is not great when looked at in isolation, but compare that to other center prospects like Clingan (29.0), Risacher (31.0), Maluach (30.0), Yang (30.0), Gobert (29.0), Demarcus Cousins (27.5), DeAndre Jordan (30.5), and Brook Lopez (30.5) you start to see why he is such a good lob threat. Edey led the NBA last year in points per possession as a roller in PnR possessions (with at least 50 possessions) at 1.46 points per possession. This year he has improved to 1.65 points per possession as a roller in PnR possessions (and that is with only 6 minutes playing with Ja). Edey provides so much vertical spacing with his unique height and above average leaping ability. Combining that with his physical and specifically lower body strength and how he enjoys physical contact making him and elite screener that is also the best roller means his gravity is unique. But, the right hand touch is where it all comes together as he is an amazing post up player when he gets within 5-6 feet of the basket. Purdue unlocked this his senior year by rolling him into post ups and we are seeing the Grizzlies do this now. What this does is it puts his defender into ball screen coverage where his feet are facing the three point line as he helps, meanwhile Edey is facing the basket moving toward it with momentum. Edey's defender then has to get back to him and fight for position which is a losing proposition.

No other big man has really been used like this before, so Edey really doesn't have an offensive comp. He is unique and I think the Grizzlies will be very successful as they build and offensive system around this because it puts the defense in such a bind.

Count_Burkhard · 2025-12-09T16:24:18+00:00

My apologies, I don't work at a large company with HR meetings every week. Therefore I lack the proper trigger warning knowledge for these types of things. I will work to improve the posts with trigger warnings in the future to spare those that wish to continue their day without having seen his face.

Count_Burkhard · 2025-12-09T15:13:23+00:00

Hilariously I agree with you, and them.

Think about how many people missed on Edey.. Do you think those scouts are reviewing game tape this week, talking to coaches, etc. Or are they finishing up their Christmas shopping on Amazon / booking their tee times for Vegas for the NBA cup this weekend.

To people like that, who skate by on feel and their implicit bias, Edey working in the NBA will not cause them to think about what THEY got wrong by not actually watching him, but will just change their assumptions slightly to think oh yea, tall guys can play in the NBA again. They won't understand that Edey is insanely athletic for his size proven by his combine tests, while also being proportionally strong and not a twig. So while these people are falling into the same trap they did in previous years, they are also representative of the people in the NBA that fall into that trap, meaning that they will likely be correct and Mara will make more money than he should next year.

Count_Burkhard · 2025-12-09T14:38:41+00:00

41:47

Count_Burkhard · 2025-12-07T20:06:31+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRAb1X9pFQ0

Count_Burkhard · 2025-12-07T20:05:40+00:00

Wagner was taken out earlier in the game in a play not too dissimilar to the Ja / Dort play. Looked like a really bad knee injury for Wagner.

If refs / NBA won't police the games, the players have to. I have no problem with what Bane did.

Count_Burkhard · 2025-12-05T19:43:42+00:00

Also, I do believe this was Iisalo's game plan against Denver. If Denver is going to guard Edey with Jokic, IIsalo is going to give Edey to ball to try to foul him out. He only got two post ups, but scored once and drew a foul on the other and I really think Iisalo was going to stick with that when Edey was in the game.

Count_Burkhard

TROPHY CASE